Dogs get sick for a wide variety of reasons. Whether they are recovering from surgery, suffering from a bacterial infection or having a bad case of diarrhea, sometimes they need a little help getting better. There are several steps to take when your dog has been having digestive upset. Following this "sick dog diet" will help them recover as soon as possible. The first step is to fast your dog for 24 hours, which for most dogs means skipping two meals. By fasting your dog, you give their digestive system a chance to clear itself out and settle down. Giving the digestive tract a chance to calm down is the first step in making your dog feel better. Animals can go days without eating, so don't worry about starving your pet. You won't cause them any harm fasting them for 24 hours UNLESS they have a medical condition that requires regular food intake. Water should always be available, and you should add unflavoured electrolyte replacement such as Pedialyte to their water to replenish all they lose by having diarrhea. After that 24 hour period, you can start feeding your dog a bland diet. The bland diet will introduce food back to your dog without stressing the digestive system. A bland diet is essentially easy to digest food that will provide healthy fibre to firm up the stool and soothe the digestive tract.

Feed your dog as many cups of the bland diet as you would their normal meal. Raw feeders can offer the same amount of bland food as they would a raw meal. For my 85lb German Shepherd, I give him two or three cups of the bland diet twice a day. Feel free to give half of that for the first meal to introduce your dog slowly to the food once again. Consider feeding your dog one cup at a time spread out throughout the day if possible. This will help soothe the digestive system and firm up the stool.

How to make a bland sick diet for your dog:Grain-Free Bland Diet:

Two large sweet potatoes

One can of pure pumpkin (not pie filling)

One cup of boiled ground beef or shredded chicken breast

1/8 a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/8 a teaspoon of ground ginger

Rice and Meat Bland Diet:

Two cups of double-boiled brown rice or oatmeal

One can of pure pumpkin (not pie filling)

One cup of double boiled ground beef or chicken

1/8 a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/8 a teaspoon of ground ginger

Additional ingredients you can add:

Boiled green beans

Unflavoured Electrolyte Replacement (add 1/4 cup per 20lbs to a bowl of water and/or add a tablespoon to the meal)

Probiotic and Digestive Enzyme supplement

Baked potato

Feed this diet for 24-48 hours and then re-assess your dog's condition. No change or worsening of symptoms will require a visit to your dog's veterinarian.

This is the great information you shared with us. Some other thoughts…
You never force a sick dog to eat. If your dog is sick and not eating, you have to take him or her to the vet, find out what the problem is and have it immediately treated. Depending on what is wrong with your dog, the longer you wait to get it to a vet, the worse the dog will get and the harder it will be for the vet to be able to treat the problem. Emergency Vets are open 24/7. Look in your Yellow Pages under Veterinarians, find one that is open 24 hours (they are in there) and get your dog to the vet Today.

Love your different Articles on how to take care of the Animals which are so near & dear to my Heart. The shopping site is my Business and i am helping Dog Rescues raise money for their needs so we are setting them up on line with weekly newsletters & showing them how to shop on line and all proceeds are directly funneled to the rescue, and i am just looking for different articles to put in our newsletter and yours are awesome please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you know of any rescues that need some Help. Thanks so much-Mary

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teri

1/27/2013 06:07:34 am

Sure wish there was a way to subscribe to this blog with Google Reader....

I post every new article on our facebook page, so you can follow there!

http://www.facebook.com/The.K9.Instinct

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teri

1/27/2013 10:57:17 am

Wonderful!!!

K9 Instinct

1/28/2013 02:47:50 am

Thank you for your support!

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Don McClellan

5/23/2013 06:32:50 am

I was advised by a vet once that whenever any of my dogs had diarrhea to just give them an Immodium tab. Wait several hours and give a second tab if necessary. It has saved me a lot of trips to the vet and money as well.

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Celeste O

5/23/2013 09:46:09 am

Sure, Pepto or Immodium work. But the bland "Healthy" diet has helped my GSD's naturally work it through their system for 53 yrs, just like the Dr would have us humans do.

I'd like to request permission to reprint this and other great articles pertaining to dog care in our rescue newsletter. I volunteer with Northern IL Samoyed Assistance, Inc. Part of our rescue mission is to help educate owners, especially first time dog owners, on how to provide proper care, training, and nutrition. Thank you in advance.

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cheryl

7/21/2013 02:55:07 am

Post illness, do you just snap right back to the raw diet? Our dogs have been raw for years and when they get ill it's always straight to a bland diet after some fasting. But I pretty much never see any recommendations on how to transition back to their normal raw diet. If they're feeling and acting 100% do you just feed them raw again, or should there be some kind of transition? Thanks!

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Janis

7/23/2013 07:07:56 am

Cheryl, I would think that as the dog feels better you could up the Bland diet with a half and half meal or two. If that goes well, then move on up to their usual diet. :)

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Merri

7/21/2013 12:40:13 pm

My 3yo GSD just got spayed and had some vomitting issues the night of the operation. She actually had no interest in eating til late the next day. I eased her back to her raw diet with ground beef, ground chicken, and chicken breasts. Small meals multiple times a day for a couple days. Then back to to her normal bone meals on the third day. In the past if she's had diarrhea i never went to a bland diet. I'd start with adding some pumpkin, and if that didn't work I'd give a Pepto tablet. That always works. Hope this helps. Merri

Thank you for your posts. I was recently told to add apple cider vinegar to my GSD's diet, have you heard anything about this?

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Merri

7/24/2013 08:20:17 am

Yep! U can add to their water...coconut oil is also great for them. U should go thru Angel's website here, alot of great info!!!!

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Sara Garcia

7/23/2013 03:54:03 pm

Hello, I have a 15 months GSD she eats Royal Canin but she dosen't like it, I´ve mixed it with tuna and we went well for a few days but later she didn't like it more than a month. What can I do? She can be without eating for days but she dosen't want the kibble. Do you think I should feed her raw and how should I make the transition?

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Merri

7/24/2013 08:28:33 am

If it were me I'd go cold turkey. Get off that kibble. Start with only one protein, ie chicken, for a couple of weeks. Then gradually introduce beef, turkey, organ meat, etc. Ur pup may have some diarrhea during the change but it'll go away. Give a couple spoonfuls of pure pumpkin if that happens, will help firm poop up. Just remember no cooked bones. Good luck!! U'll be happy u switched!

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Erika Mae Kaibetony

1/17/2015 12:51:32 pm

Hello. My dog was recently seen by a vet and he has hurt his back and won't poop because he has to arch his back to poop but I need him to eat because of the pain killers/sedative and he won't eat the ground beef and rice I've been feeding him. I just wanted to know what should I feed him or is he just getting tired of the taste of the bland food??

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jenny williams

11/20/2015 08:08:46 am

My 14 yr old male boxer mastiff mix fell a few weeks ago. I took him to the vet who prescribed 2 medications, Carafate to keep his stomach from upset caused by the 2nd med , Carprofen. The Carprofen was given for the inflammation & arthritis. By the 3rd WK he had started vomiting within 30-45 minutes after eating & then drinking water or just eating. I called the vet who did not respond, I then researched the meds & found that both meds had side effects of nausea & vomiting. I've taken him off the meds & put him on an herbal for muscle joint & arthritis. He has been on the herbal for 4-5 days. We are still have some vomiting issues. Could this be caused by the medication still in his system? Can I use these diets to get him nutrition ?

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Paulette

11/20/2015 09:20:11 pm

What does the cinnamon and what does cinnamon and ginger do?

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Renee

3/21/2016 05:54:53 pm

Are lentils safe to feed on a bland diet?

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Maryam

1/19/2017 01:10:31 pm

I'd love to be part of this group, learning lotsa things re post surgery

5yr old dachshund that had diarrhea@vomiting@got over that with vet help. she lost 5lbs in 3 months. been eatting chicken ,rice ,peas ,carrots ,oatmeal ,pumpkin@ wont gain weight. Each time we tried to introduce dry with more fat we went back to gastro issues

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Liz

4/2/2017 08:19:42 pm

What dogfood did you try and put her on?

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Darleen

4/12/2017 07:01:38 am

I have a 18 week old German Shepherd. Yesterday afternoon she started having diarrhea, it was wet. She ate lunch and an hour later she vomited it up and still had diarrhea. She didnt eat her supper right away but she did eat it. She did have diarrhea after that or vomit. She was starting to be herself again. We put to to bed last night she seemed ok. This morning I woke up to find she vomited in her kennel. Her vomit is solid not wet. She is not herself at all. All she's doing is laying around. She did eat this morning till 2 hours later then normal. That was before I read about the bland sick diet. We feed her Annameat Extra 26% protein dry dogfood. Its Holistic Natural Nutrition with Algae.

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Darleen

4/12/2017 07:04:40 am

She didn't vomit or have diarrhea after she ate supper.

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Linda

9/15/2017 08:18:55 am

Hi everyone. I'm new to this but need some help. I have a 10 week old Newfoundland with diarrhea. He pooped pieces of corn cob 3 days after he came home with us and 1 more after, but now 2 weeks later he still has diarrhea. (The breeder said her neighbor throws that kind of stuff in the bushes for wildlife to pick at! Ugg) Our vet tested and it's not worms and to let her know if I see any more cob, which I haven't and last I spoke to her, she said to start him on chicken and rice diet. That was 2 days ago and although he's still eating, he still has diarrhea. Drinking a lot and peeing. Should I try the pumpkin? Does he need supplimental calcium? He sleeps a lot but plays when he's up. Any suggestions? Thanks

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Liz

9/15/2017 12:15:53 pm

Has your vet considered that there may be an obstruction that is causing the diarrhea?

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Linda

9/19/2017 05:24:16 am

Yes. Since he did get into corn cob it is possible there's still something in there. Since I put him on the hamburger and rice with pumpkin, he seems to be better, it's not diarrhea, but it's still soft. He goes to the vets again this week.

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Liz

9/19/2017 11:07:53 am

Ok so firming up is great news and means IMHO that their is less chance that their is a blockage. Vomiting and or liquid diarrhea can indicate a blockage. So now the next step is getting a fecal done to see if... think you said this was a puppy, has giardia, coccidia or worms. Honeslty I would dona 5 day panacur powerpack regardless of the fecal status. If after the power pack the pup still has diarrhea, I would work on gut health.

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